AUTONOMOUS MAINTENANCE PRESENTATION

When companies begin to implement Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) they often start by piloting Autonomous Maintenance (AM). This is understandable as AM is one of the key distinguishing features of TPM and also one of the most important activities when understood correctly. To understand AM correctly it needs to be seen as an improvement activity within TPM, rather than production teams taking on maintenance activities. In the evolution of TPM in Japan, AM grew out of the 5S activities of production teams, as they found that in order to deal with barriers to Quality, Delivery and particularly Cost performance they needed to improve equipment conditions, initially by applying the principles of 5S and QC circles. AM was not the result of a desire to reduce maintenance costs or maintenance departments wishing to hand tasks over to production, rather it was the result of production teams wishing to control and improve their equipment.